Saving Sara
by Slytherin Shaman
Summary: When her packmate is abducted by Spirals, Mercy defies everything in order to save her.  Short chapters, be warned.
1. Abduction

The ragabash stood looking through the portal into Nevada Hive, her pack mates behind her on the moonbridge by a good fifteen minute run in lupus. Though no pack-link bound them together, Mercy knew that her lover was already in there, being held against her will. She cursed Unicorn in a dark corner of her mind for swearing her and the other Children of Gaia to silence about the fallen camp of drug-users, and cursed herself that she hadn't thought that the Black Fury would be in any danger, and cursed herself again for leaving her alone for even a minute!

"Sara..." she whispered, full of pain. She struggled to obey Double-Aught's orders to not go into the hive, but her heart was tearing itself to bits to leave Sara. Mercy had to admit that as soon as the rest were done mopping up the Spirals, they would catch up with her, and they would make her come back to River's Might... Without Sara.

And she couldn't do it.

Not for Double-Aught, not for Rowan, not for Winds... Not even if Donny himself showed up and begged her to come back to the sept with him could she countenance leaving Sara "Last Laugh" behind.

"_I'm sorry, Ro. I can't go back without her._" Mercy thinks, sending the thought back to her pack alpha. He protested loudly in return, begging her to wait.

But it was too late.

She stepped through.


	2. Charge

To say that this was Mercy's less brilliant or thought-out plans would be a drastic understatement. It had only been pure luck that she'd brought the bladed staff Winds of Change had made her as a belated half-birthday present. It had yet to be christened in combat though, as she had pole-vaulted over the fleeing Spirals in order to reach the end of the moonbridge.

Now though, in homid, she whirled into action, mowing a path through the Spirals as she took random turns heading towards the bright glowing fungus at the center of the Hive. She didn't know where Sara would be. All Mercy had to go on was her gut instinct that this was the right way. Common sense, and her packmates, were yelling in her head for her to turn back, but she couldn't.

Blood sprayed around her as the ends of her bladed staff slashed through those who would've stopped her, staining her hair brilliantly on the ends where it was still bone white from a three month bout of bleaching. Her clothes were quickly rendered rags from the clawed grasp of her enemies... Suicidally brave, she charged on, thoughts of her love spurring her forward.

Abruptly, the Spirals backed off, but Mercy kept running... until she met with the mouth of a tunnel. She glanced over her shoulder, met by glowing eyes behind her in the dark that suddenly blocked the way she'd come. She hesitated, eying the gaping maw of darkness in front of her.

A sound, a faint echo really, came from the tunnel but to Mercy's straining ears, it was the sound of Sara crying out.

"SARA!" She screamed the name like a battle cry, and charged forward once more.


	3. Insight

Mercy ran all out down the dank tunnel, following the echoing sound of Sara's voice. She stumbled as the first vision hit.

_"I never had a reason to come back before I met you..." she murmurs, strong arms surrounding her.  
>"I want you to keep coming back, Merce," the man replied, his voice rumbling in her ear through his chest.<em>

The memory stabbed at her heart, making her keenly aware that Donny had left her because it'd gotten too hard. As though triggered by that, another vision came to her.

_She stared at him, feeling as though her heart had been thrown into a blender before her eyes. "But you said it was worth the risk..." she said, voice choked with the desire to cry.  
>"That was before, Merce... Before I understood what's at risk. Our lives are not worth the risk." Donny replied, reaching out and placing a hand awkwardly on her shoulder.<em>

Mercy couldn't stop the sob that escaped as she staggered to a stop, her hand on the wall.

_"You failed me, Mercy... You should've been able to save Snow, but you got yourself taken out of the fight and Snow died."_

She tried to remind herself that Rowan had never said those words, but she had thought them herself... Too often, she felt herself a failure.

_"No no no! SARA!" she cried desperately as the Black Fury shrunk in on herself. Mercy shook her, praying to bring her out of the catatonic stupor she'd slipped into. "Sara come back!"_

Mercy felt some strength return to her, which she found vaguely ironic as the memories had thus far been tearing her down. She pushed away from the wall and took off after the echoes of Sara's voice.

That little bit of strength sustained her to where she found Sara, screaming not in pain or terror, but in rage and anger and hate. The sound of it brought Mercy up short, but then the screams changed to piteous wailing.

"Mercy... how could you?" the Fury cried as she fell to her knees.

"Sara!" Mercy called out, rushing to her side and wrapping her arms around the other ragabash desperately. "Sara, I'm right here!"

Sara flung Mercy away though, leaving her stunned on the tunnel floor. "Sara..." Mercy murmured, eyes filling with tears.


	4. Confrontation

Sara turned to her fellow ragabash, eyes filled with hurt and anger. "You fucking _whore_!" she yelled in Mercy's face. "I _knew_ about fucking Captain Donny America, but _Rowan_? And Viktor! Do you even _care_ about me?"

The words cut deeper at Mercy's heart than any of the memories this place had recalled. "I _love_ you, Sara!" Mercy sobbed. "Rowan asked for it but we haven't done anything since he left for Ireland... And Viktor? I never slept with him... Well... I never actually did anything... Ro was gone, Donny'd left me... I needed someone to hold me..."

Mercy reached out at hand to touch Sara's face but the icy steel in Sara's brown eyes made her hesitate. "Sara... Remember the night after Padraig's Gathering? And our new beds? Remodeling the pack house? I tried to save Viktor... And Ro's my brother and I will always give him what he asks for... But I _love_... I love _you_, Sara. Look at where we are! I left Winds and Ro fighting the other Spirals, and disobeyed Double-Aught's direct order because I couldn't live with myself if I left you here. I can't live _at all_ without you, Sara..."

Teary blue eyes pled with unfeeling brown, and Mercy held her breath, hoping to get through to Sara. As though answering her prayers, she saw uncertainty flash across the Fury's face.

"I don't know if I can go back, Mercy... How can I accept the people who would murder Raven for speaking out, and Peter for wanting his child? Who would kill us both for what we've done? Who nearly destroyed you, and let Donny off with a light slap on the wrist? I can't believe that's what the Mother actually _wants_, Mercy..." Sara said, averting her eyes. "They deride you at every turn for loving, for believing that we shouldn't be fighting each other... Mercy... How do you keep doing it?"

Mercy reached out again, and this time, Sara did not glower at her or shake the hand away. She shifted slightly to sit next to Sara, and Mercy rested her head against Sara's shoulder, arm wrapping around Sara's waist. "Recently? It's been a combination of ignoring it, and the belief that it's the right thing to do... Doesn't hurt that I've been worrying about you more than anything else lately," Mercy replied quietly, her arm tightening around Sara. "I have to believe that for every Screechy Beak," she paused as the derogatory nickname drew a weak chuckle from her companion, "there's another Ro... And for every Konstantin, there's another Winds..." she continued quietly, shifting again and turning Sara's face to hers with a finger under her chin. "And for every Connor and Donny, there's another Mercy and Sara in the world... I don't want to be who I'd be if I didn't believe that... and I don't keep fighting for Konstantin, or Screechy Beak, or Connor, or Donny even... I keep going for Ro and Winds... and _you_, Sara," Mercy finished quietly, her breath warm against Sara's cheek.

Mercy scanned her lover's face from this close angle, and her heart lightened as she saw the conflicting emotions grow stronger. "I can't fight you, Sara. I can't live in a world where you are my enemy... So we go forward together, or we go back together..." she said, and smiled weakly as a thought occurred to her. "And I don't know about you, my love, but I don't want to be on the wrong side of Ro's broadsword..." she added, voicing the amusing thought with an equally weak chuckle.

They sat there in silence for what felt like almost an eternity, Mercy resting her head on Sara's shoulder again, and Sara leaning into Mercy for support.

Finally, Mercy could wait no longer. "So... Which way do we go?"

_Belated Disclaimer: I do not own Werewolf: the Apocalypse. Sara belongs to Sake1. Mercy is of my own creation. Any other character names mentioned belong to their players in the Twin Cities Garou LARP known as Twin Cities: Last Stand.  
>Part 5 will be forthcoming. :D<br>~Slytherin Shaman  
><em>


	5. SOS

It took another eon for Sara to finally answer, and when she finally did, she hugged Mercy a little closer. "Let's go _home_, Merce..."

Mercy couldn't help but pull Sara to her and hug her close. "If I could love you more, Sara Otis, I would now," Mercy pronounced, punctuating her statement with a hasty kiss. "C'mon!"

Mercy stood, pulling Sara up with her, and started back towards the start of the stony maze, picking up her staff from where she'd dropped it upon finding Sara. She tried to remember the way she'd come, but to no avail as every turn seemed like the last, and everything had been so hazy in going forward that the way back seemed impossible to recall.

After the third dead-end, Mercy finally remembered...

"_Rowan!_" she called out, both aloud and in her mind, praying that the mental link granted by their pack totem would still function so far into enemy territory.

"_Mercy? Where are you? What the bloody hell were you thinking?_" was her alpha's response.

"_You would've done the same for any pack mate, Rowan, and you know it,_" she retorted. "_Can you help or do we have to make it back to the moon bridge?_"

There was a long silence as Mercy half-heard Rowan talking to someone outside the pack link. "_You have to get out of where you are first... I can't create a bridge into there. Second..._" and Rowan paused, seeming to chew on the bad news before finally delivering it. "_Double-Aught closed the moon bridge once Winds and I returned._"


	6. Traitor

Mercy's ashen expression upon 'hearing' that the moon bridge was no longer a viable escape garnered Sara's full attention. "Merce? What's wrong? Is Rowan coming?" she asked, squeezing Mercy's hand to bring the glazed look out of her eyes.

"The moon bridge is closed... And Rowan can't get to us while we're in this place..." The brave façade Mercy had put up cracked as she held Sara's hand in a death grip. 

_Viktor considered the body before him, before carefully setting to work. The silver blade gleamed in the dim light of the forge before cutting and flaying the flesh away. As he moved down and away from the head, the face became visible._

As the vision faded, the first thing Mercy was aware of is Sara pulling her back the way they'd come, an expression of pure hatred on her face.

"I'll kill him!" she spat. Mercy came out of her shock long enough to dig her heels in and stop Sara.

"Sara! Stop! We can let the sept know! Not even Guides will protect him then." Mercy pleaded desperately, clinging to the Fury with all her strength. Sara stopped but did not turn to face Mercy, so Mercy came around to face her. "Sara... we can solve this without becoming _worse_ than him, my love... We'll do it together. I promise..." She felt more than saw Sara's hate break from her body, and Mercy gladly supported her as Sara flung her arms around her lover and buried her face in her shoulder. "There... I know how much Raven meant to you, but... we can do this, love... Now... Do you remember how to get out of here?"

Sara clutched Mercy tighter for a brief moment before stepping back, sniffling and nodding. "Okay... You lead. I'll follow. Let's get out of here before we find out other things we don't want to know," Mercy said, brushing an errant hair out of Sara's eyes. Sara offered a weak smile in reply, nodding again.

With Sara leading, they ran into fewer dead ends and sighted the entrance before any other visions could assault their senses. Stepping out of the tunnel into the larger cavern beyond, the pair breathed a brief sigh of relief. Sara tensed, her breath cut off, and Mercy looked away from her to see what she was staring at with an expression of anger doused with fear.

"Shen..." Mercy growled, her hand tightening on her staff.


	7. Epiphany

The mute philodox smiled grimly at the two ragabash, before she shifted, growing slowly from her lanky homid form to a nine-foot-tall half-wolf killing machine with razor sharp claws and gleaming fangs. Mercy swallowed nervously, hand clenching her staff tightly. Sara took a step away from Mercy, muscle building up and growing about half a foot taller. A labrys appears in her hands, forming out of a tattoo that had been on her arm.

Mercy took a defensive stance, holding her bladed staff before her, as Sara charged forward, a guttural roar reverberating through the cavern. She hesitated to join Sara in combating the fallen Child of Gaia. Inside, she warred with her wish to not fight, the deep seated urge to live her own life and choose her own path...

Sara cried out in surprise as Shen's claws bit into her flesh and stayed there, new claws growing in their place. Mercy blinked, an epiphany striking her as she watched Sara try to pull one of the talons out, only to rip more flesh as she did so, the claws having become barbed like a bee's stinger. With a screaming battle cry not unlike Sara's own, Mercy charged forward, fur rippling across her skin as she shifted into her gray-furred crinos form, and her scream became a resounding howl of fury.

Together, Sara and Mercy had little trouble incapacitating their former ally. Mercy's bladed staff came down and severed a clawed hand from Shen's arm. Its mate soon joined it on the ground, cut off at the elbow by Sara's labrys. The fray ended almost abruptly, with a blade of Mercy's staff sticking through Shen's torso, and Sara neatly slicing the curved blade of her battle axe through Shen's neck.

As the fallen Child of Gaia's body slumped to the cavern floor, Mercy sagged against her staff, shrinking down to glabro and breathing heavily. Sara remained in glabro, but was staring at Mercy with an odd surprised expression. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the flash of light signifying an opened moon bridge.

"Tell me you saved some for us, Merce," Rowan said, his eye gleaming as he led the war party consisting of Winds of Change, Guides The Cycle and Dreamwalker. As though in response, grotesque figures melted out of the shadows, all smiling eerily.

"Nope, boss... Just warmin' up the party for you," Mercy replied cheekily.


	8. Choice

Though umbral travel usually took only a fraction of the time it'd take to travel in the Tellurian, the return trip took quite a bit of time. Mercy, with Sara leaning heavily against her shoulder, was pushing past exhaustion, but even so, she noticed the tense silence that hung between her fellow Children of Gaia - Guides the Cycle and Dreamwalker - and herself.

Rowan was leading again, happily whistling as several heads swing by hair and fur from his hands. Winds too looked smugly pleased with the kill count, occasionally checking his satchel and chuckling to himself. Mercy allowed that she'd done well, even Double-Aught would have to grant that (aside from disobeying orders - that'd be a black mark)... But she couldn't shake the feeling of dread that consumed her gut as they neared the end of the moonbridge.

"Merce?" Sara started quietly, her voice only reaching Mercy's ears barely.

"Yeah Sara?"

"What changed?" Sara asked. Mercy didn't need to ask what she meant.

"I found something I've been needing for a very long time, Sara... I found a reason to chose this life over any other." Mercy's arm tightened around Sara briefly, telling the Black Fury exactly what she'd found. Though she made no further action, Sara's cheeks were stained brightly pink, which was all the acknowledgement Mercy needed.

Upon returning to River's Might, Sara and Mercy were immediately shuffled off to Stalks the Forest's sweat lodge for ritual cleansing, while the rest were able to be cleansed more simply. After what seemed like the allotted hour for thorough cleansing, Stalks the Forest opened the door to the sauna, but did not let them out. Instead, Dreamwalker, followed by Guides the Cycle, entered.

"Hardest Lessons, we need to talk."


	9. Purge

Immediately, all of Mercy's worst fears were confirmed, and she found no relief between Jack's hard stare and Guides' averted eyes. She stood from her seat on the bench, dimly aware of her hand being pulled slightly as Sara held it.

"By all means, Dreamwalker-rhya... What's wrong?" Mercy asked, struggling to keep her voice even.

"What's wrong is that a sister of our tribe is dead."

Mercy looked between the two elder tribe mates, confused before realization dawned, and she turned her gaze on Guides the Cycle. "Guides, you and I both know what Shen was doing..."

"That only proves taint, not that she deserved death," Jack countered. Guides continued to avoid Mercy's eyes, allowing the younger galliard to lead him. She could not help but sneer in disgust as she turned her fierce gaze back on Jack.

"She _sought out_ the same Spirals Unicorn warned us against, and then came back with Wyrm-tainted drugs _in her_... and then disobeyed Guides' order to stay on the Sept to _go back to them!_ She was a danger to the Sept, and she would've kept going back to them for drugs!" She was livid, furious that Jack was leveling such an accusation at her. "And you've done absolutely _nothing_ to help her with her addiction issues! It wouldn't surprise me at all if you were the one giving her the drugs lately! Never mind that such an addiction could be seen as an illness!"

"That's not the issue here, Hardest Lessons."

"No, it's _exactly_ the issue, Jack Dreamwalker! It's because of her addiction that she sought them out! And we all knew that those... those _things_ were passing through and what their methods were. She went in, knowing full well what she was walking into!"

"You didn't give her the chance to explain! Or repent!" Jack returned hotly, glaring at the cliath fiercely. His stare is returned in equal measure by Mercy, both unwilling to back down.

The stand-off is broken when a new voice joins in. "She didn't deserve a chance. She's the one who lead me into the Labyrinth."


	10. Dissent

Jack and Guides are stunned silent by Sara's quiet declaration. She stands up, practically vibrating with fury and her grip almost painfully tight on Mercy's hand. "Shen was my friend and she tricked me. She played on every weakness and sucked me in with her lies. Mercy saved me, and I'm proud to say that I'm just as much to blame for that bitch's death as Mercy is."

"She was a garou of the Nation!"

"It was a servant of the _Wyrm_!"

Mercy and Guides look on with eyes and jaws similarly wide open, as the argument grew more heated than the sauna they were already in. One-liners fly back and forth, both turning red with rage. Then Mercy's heart drops as the last of Jack's comments fell into a resounding silence.

"I bet you didn't even _try_ to save her!" Jack spits venomously. "I bet it was just too hard, just like with Viktor. Both of you fight so hard for him and the moment you have him," he snaps his fingers, "just like that, kicked to the curb."

Sara's eyes narrow, and Mercy hears and sees the vicious retort forming on Sara's tongue. Mercy grips her arm, her knuckles white and face flushing red.

"Well why don't you ask him how many garou pelts he's saved up and see how long _you_ stick with him!"


End file.
